|
''Illinois'' (BB-65) was to have been the fifth constructed for the United States Navy and was the fourth ship to be named in honor of the 21st US state. Hull BB-65 was originally to be the first ship of the s, but changes during World War II resulted in her being reordered as an . Adherence to the ''Iowa''-class layout rather than the ''Montana''-class layout allowed BB-65 to gain eight knots in speed, carry more 20 mm and 40 mm anti-aircraft guns, and transit the locks of the Panama Canal; however, the move away from the ''Montana''-class layout left BB-65 with a reduction in the heavier armaments and without the additional armor that were to have been added to BB-65 during her time on the drawing board as USS ''Montana''. Like her sister ship , ''Illinois'' was still under construction at the end of World War II. Her construction was canceled in August 1945, but her hull remained until 1958 when it was broken up. == Design == The passage of the Second Vinson Act in 1938 had cleared the way for construction of the four ''South Dakota''-class battleships and the first two ''Iowa''-class fast battleships (those with the hull numbers BB-61 and BB-62). The latter four battleships of the class, those designated with the hull numbers BB-63, BB-64, BB-65, and BB-66 were not cleared for construction until 1940, and at the time BB-65 and BB-66 were intended to be the first ships of the ''Montana'' class. Originally, BB-65 was to be the United States Navy's counter to the Empire of Japan's s, whose construction at the time was known to the highest-ranking members of the United States Navy, along with the rumors that the ''Yamato''-class ships would carry guns of up to . To combat this, the United States Navy began designing a 58,000 ton ship with an intended armament of twelve guns. This battleship took shape in the mid-1930s as USS ''Montana'', the lead ship of her class of dreadnought battleships. She would have fielded three more guns than those mounted aboard the ''Iowa'' class, a more powerful secondary battery of dual purpose mounts, and an increase in armor designed to enable ''Montana'' to withstand the effects of enemy guns comparable to her own. The increase in ''Montana''s firepower and armor came at the expense of her speed and her Panamax capabilities, but the latter issue was to be resolved through the construction of a third, much wider set of locks at the Panama Canal. As the situation in Europe deteriorated in the late-1930s, the USA began to be concerned once more about its ability to move warships between the oceans. The largest US battleships were already so large as to have problems with the canal locks; and there were concerns about the locks being put out of action by enemy bombing. In 1939, to address these concerns, construction began on a new set of locks for the canal that could carry the larger warships which the US had either under construction or planned for future construction. These locks which would have enabled ''Montana'' to transit between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans without the need to sail around the tip of South America. As USS ''Montana,'' BB-65 would have been the only battleship class commissioned by the US to approach the Imperial Japanese Navy's ''Yamato'' class on the basis of armor, armament, and tonnage. By 1942 the United States Navy shifted its building focus from battleships to aircraft carriers after the successes of carrier combat in both the Battle of the Coral Sea, and to a greater extent, the Battle of Midway.〔 As a result, the construction of the US fleet of s had been given the highest priority for completion in the US shipyards by the US Navy. The ''Essex''-class carriers were proving vital to the war effort by enabling the Allies to gain and maintain air supremacy in the Pacific War, and were rapidly becoming the principal striking arm of the United States Navy in the ongoing effort to defeat the Empire of Japan.〔 Accordingly, the United States accepted shortcomings in the armor for their s, ''South Dakota''-class, and s in favor of additional speed, which enabled these battleship classes to steam at a comparable speed with the ''Essex''-class and provide the carriers with the maximum amount of anti-aircraft protection.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「USS Illinois (BB-65)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|